Lowther, Derflinger, Smith & Herrero Receive Gold Axe Award

Apr 16, 2014

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz.
– Four Northern Arizona University student-athletes
were recognized among their graduating peers Tuesday night with the
prestigious Gold Axe Award. Andrea Derflinger, Emma Lowther and Stirling Smith of the swimming & diving team and
Jim Herrero of the football team received the Gold Axe
Award for the 2014 spring semester for their achievements on and
off the field and their service to the university as well as the
community.

The Gold Axe Award is a tribute to
outstanding academic performance, leadership and service to the
community. With this semester's four honorees, the NAU Athletics
Department has now produced 37 Gold Axe winners since 2004.

Derflinger, a native of Anthem,
Ariz. will graduate in May with a double major in psychology and
criminology & criminal justice. She owns the fourth fastest 200
butterfly time in program history (2:02.28) and posted her best
finish at this year's WAC Championships. In the 200 butterfly,
Derflinger placed fifth overall with a time of 2:03.66 to earn her
second career All-WAC second team honor. A four-time Golden Eagle
Scholar-Athlete and three-time WAC All-Academic selection,
Derflinger currently sports a 3.45 GPA and has been active in
passing on her knowledge in the pool to others. She serves as an
instructor as both a private swim instructor and water safety
instructor at Flagstaff Athletic Club, the Wall Aquatic Center and
the Anthem Community Center, working with infants and toddlers all
the way to older adults. Derflinger has also acted as treasurer for
the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners Club at NAU.

"It is a huge honor and I wasn't
expecting to get it when I applied," Derflinger said. "It makes
everything worth it. I put in so much time in athletics and
academics as well, so to be recognized for that is awesome. It's
really exciting all the way around and this type of award will help
me as I head into grad school."

Lowther will graduate with a degree
in health sciences – public health in May to cap off her
impressive career both in and out of the pool at NAU. She will
leave as the school record holder in the 200 freestyle (1:48.26) in
addition to the second-fastest times in the 500 freestyle and 200
butterfly and the fourth-fastest time in the 1,650 freestyle. The
native of Cockle Bay, New Zealand is also a member of the school
record 400 and 800 freestyle relay teams. This season, Lowther was
the silver medalist in the 500 free and the mile at the WAC
Championships while also swimming the anchor leg of the bronze
medal winning 800 free relay team, pushing her total up to 14
career WAC medals. The two-time CollegeSwimming.com Mid-Major
All-American and 15-time All-WAC honoree has been recognized for
her academic work all four years as a WAC All-Academic selection
and Golden Eagle Scholar-Athlete. Lowther, owner of a 3.78 GPA,
will also be recognized as the Distinguished Senior of the Year for
the Health Sciences and Department and Public Health program and is
the president of the College Health Education Club (CHEC) and is a
certified peer educator to give presentations on various health
topics.

"Coming here that I had the idea
that I would swim well so the focus was on swimming because that
was important to me," Lowther said. "I realized very quickly that
academics and community service was just as important, so I got
involved in CHEC. Realizing that I could become an all-around
person at NAU is very special to me and I'm proud to be a part of a
program that thinks that becoming well-rounded is important."

Smith of Stoughton, Wis. received
her Gold Axe Award on the same day in which she was named NAU's
Female Golden Eagle Scholar-Athlete of the Year. The breaststroker
from Stoughton, Wis. had her best season this year earning her
first career medal – the bronze in the 200 breaststroke
– at the WAC Championships in addition to placing fourth in
the 100 breaststroke and 12th in the 200 IM with lifetime-best
times in all three events. Smith finished her swimming career with
three All-WAC honors and will leave with career-best times of
1:03.07 in the 100 breast and 2:16.39 in the 200 breast, good for
second and fourth all-time in the NAU record books. She was named a
WAC All-Academic selection and Golden Eagle Scholar-Athlete all
four years while carrying a GPA of 3.96. Smith currently volunteers
at Flagstaff Medical Center and has served on the NAU
Student-Athlete Advisory Committee the last three years. She also
served as a student-athlete representative on the Gender Equity and
Student-Athlete Well-Being Committee for two years.

"Winning the Gold Axe, along with
my teammates Andrea and Emma, is a good representation of how
strong and motivated our senior class was on the swim team," Smith
said. "We were all motivated by each other's energy athletically
and in the classroom. We all pushed each other to be the best that
we could be."

Herrero is the football team's
first Gold Axe recipient since 2011 and has done exceptional work
off the field. Herrero appeared in four games this season and
earned two starts against UC Davis and South Dakota. He was named
the team's Offensive Scout Team Player of the Year in 2012 and has
been a valuable member of NAU's offensive line during his career.
Off the field, Herrero has been stellar as he was named to the
Dean's List every semester. With a 3.94 GPA, Herrero is a
three-time Golden Eagle Scholar-Athlete and AD Honor Roll honoree.
He is also active in the outdoor community, serving as the Vice
President of the NAU Bass Fishing club and he is a member of the
Coconino Trail Riders. The Kingman, Ariz. native has volunteered
with Outdoor Experience for All and Hunt of a Lifetime, giving
opportunity to disable children and adults to enjoy the outdoors.
On campus, he is a member of the Exercise Science club and is a
Teacher's Assistant for the statistics program and biology
department. Herrero will graduate with a degree in exercise science
in May and has been accepted into Physical Therapy school for the
fall.

"It feels great to win a very
prestigious award that wraps up my career at NAU," Herrero said.
"It symbolizes all the things I've been able to do and accomplish
through the help of the athletic department and the academic
department and everybody else at NAU."

The tradition of the Gold Axe Award
dates back to 1933, a year after the student body adopted the axe
as the symbol for Lumberjack athletics. It was then that NAU
adopted the tradition of awarding small gold axe pins to
outstanding members of the student body. The gold axe pin is still
considered the official emblem of the Associated Students of NAU
and is presented to recognize students' outstanding achievements
and distinguished service to the university and the greater
community.